More Early Year Memories

Hi Marty,reminiscences chapter 4. One thing I noticed,or rather didn't notice In Normand's first pic of the Southern Counties car was the old hockey change shack. I assume that it is there but hidden by the M&SC "Caban" as Doug called it .

I remember that Caban because it was an ideal spot for us Cubs to sell our apples which we did once a year as a fund-raiser. I also remember that back then ,long before equality of the sexes was a reality, the female side of the shack was on the left and the male side was on the right.
The only problem was that there was only one big wood stove and it was, you guessed it, on the male side.

Maybe this inequality would have been just due to the fact that not many females used the rink because it was primarily used for hockey, and since there were no female hockey players at the time the only time that women would be in the shack was when there were public skating times and they were I think only scheduled a couple of hours each week.

An item I forgot to mention about the M&SC was about one of the conductors Big John Trudeau(Trudel). As my Dad told the story, John,once the train left the St lambert Station heading for Montreal across the Victoria Bridge, would open the throttle, secure it in the open position by a small chain with a steel ring on one end of it, to a post on the dash and then come back to the smoking section of the car for a cigarette and a chat with the riders.
One passenger( probably from St Lambert LOL) apparently took umbrage with this perceived carelessness and reported John to the authorities who assessed John with a two day suspension .

The story continues that whenever John felt the need of a couple of days off he would set the train in motion across the bridge and move back into the smoker area, hoping that someone would report him to his superiors. It may be just a story but it is a part of the lore of a service that was so vital to the development and growth of the community so many of us grew up in and remember so fondly.

JMcC

Thanks John